Sluggish imports

Qatar’s imports recovered only slightly in July after plunging in June, government data released on Thursday showed, suggesting the country’s economy is still suffering from sanctions imposed by other Gulf states.

The closure of the Saudi border with Qatar and disruption to shipping routes via the UAE slashed Qatar’s imports by 37.9 percent in June compared with May, forcing Doha to scramble to arrange new shipping routes and import some goods by air.

Thursday’s figures showed Qatar is still far from restoring its imports to normal. Imports recovered by only 6.3 percent month-on-month to 6.24 billion riyals ($1.71 billion) in July; they were 35.0 percent below their level in July 2016.

Qatar’s foreign ministry on Thursday said it was closing Chad’s embassy in Doha and ordered all staff to leave the emirate within three days.

The retaliatory move came just 24 hours after the central African state announced it was closing Qatar’s embassy in N’Djamena, accusing Doha of seeking to destabilise the country.

Qatar foreign ministry official Ahmed bin Saeed al-Rumaihi said in a statement the emirate had decided “to close the Embassy of the Republic of

Chad in Doha and to give diplomats and embassy staff 72 hours to leave the country”.

Rumaihi added that Qatar rejected as “baseless” claims made by Chad on Wednesday.

Chad said it was expelling Qatar’s mission to “safeguard peace and stability in the region”, accusing the Middle Eastern state of “attempts at the destabilisation of Chad from Libya”.

Qatar’s diplomatic staff were given 10 days to leave. Chad, Mauritania and Senegal all recalled their ambassadors from Qatar in June.